Review of Ping Pong the Animation

Ping Pong the Animation feels like it was tailor-made for me. It tells the story of 5 table tennis competitors in a period of two years, and concludes it with an epilogue 10 or smt years later. And all is creative choices are made in order to develop those 5 characters, so that they come of age. Poignant af, and especially relatable to me, because I used to be a precocious depressed math competitor, PPTA really hit home. To top it all off, this anime does not feature any of that shitty anime comedy that makes me inhale slowly and sigh with regret. I would loveto praise every aspect of this anime to high heaven, but I feel it would be redundant and inappropriate, because I adore it so much. When one loves something, trying to objectively analyze it sounds stupid, self-indulging and superficial (looking at you, anime youtubers) Still, I am obligated to say for the sake of promotion that the Tenderness and China OSTs make me tear up every time (post-PPTA.) Kensuke Ushio is my Final Fantasy VII.

Just watch it. You might feel like everything you have seen before is BS post-PPTA (sports anime are now all the same BS to me );) so be warned. If the animation is putting you off, know that it put me off when it came out in 2014 as well and l was retarded back then. PPTA's style grew on me a lot because I liked the show. While watching it, surprisingly I never found it ugly, or too quirky. I get it too, if the sports anime story is typically not your thing - it isn't mine either. However, know that PPTA is a sports anime only when it comes down to the setup, tropes, and epic moments. At the heart of it, the anime is about 5 lovable goofballs, 3 cute old timers, numerous losers that don't matter (but make you cry nonetheless,) and the drama between them. Ping Pong the Animation is a love letter to table tennis and a tribute to youth.